Machine for cutting leather



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. L. SWEET. MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEATHER.

No. 571,292. Patented Nov. 10,1896" (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

-A. L. SWEET. MAGHQINE FOR CUTTING LEATHER.

No. 571,292. Patented Nov. 10,1896.

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NIIIIIIHWW E "m ,3, z i!!! um L MM i /0 n '\II II UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

ALONZO L. SlVEET, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE SEAMLESS LEATHER COMPANY, OF ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEATHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 571,292, dated November 10, 1896.

Application filed July 17, 1895. Serial No 556,204. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALONZO L. SWEET, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Leather, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention is designed to cut leather strips for making blanks for harness-loops and other purposes; and my object is to provide a machine having a variable feed, by which blanks of different sizes may be out, the knife operating at a uniform speed and a feeding mechanism being adjustable to suit the size of blank desired.

My invention comprises a reciprocating knife, and feeding mechanism adapted to feed the strip thereto to the desired amount for making blanks of different widths, and it includes various details of construction hereinafter pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine; Fig. 2, a plan view; Fig. 3, an end elevation, partly in section; and Fig. 4, a detail view of the feeding mechanism.

The knife 1 is carried by a cross-head 2, movable vertically in standards 3, supported upon the table 4 and adjustable thereon toward and from the feed-rollers 5 and 6. The cross-head is reciprocated vertically from an eccentric 7 on the transverse shaft 8, through the pitman 9, the lever 10, the rock-shaft 11, supported in the standard 12, and the arm 13, which is adapted at its free end to engage the cross-pin 14 of the cross-head, this arm 13 permitting the cross-head,with the standards 3 and the knife, to be adjustable longi tudinally of the machine, as already mentioned. The lower feed-roller 6 is arranged upon the shaft 15, and the upper feed-roller 5 is on the shaft 17, revolving in boxes 18 19 in a frame 20, said boxes 18 19 being vertically adjustable therein and controlled by a screw 21, so as to increase and diminish the distance between the rollers for different kinds of material. The strip is guided to the rollers by guide-plates 22, which are held adj ustably on the machine-frame by screws 23.

.. pulley.

The feed of the material takes place through the lower roller 6, and the shaft of this roller is extended, as at 24, Fig. 3, to receive the feeding mechanism, which consists of a pawlgear 25, loose on the extension and driven from a pinion 26, of half-size, on the eccentric shaft 8, to which power is applied by a This loose gear carries a pawl 28, adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 29, secured by a key 30 to the shaft extension 24, and this pawl is under tension of a spring 31, tending to constantly force the same into engagement with the teeth. A pair of guard-plates are arranged on the hub 2 of the ratche t-wheel,and these guard-plates have high and low portions 33 34, adapted to control the engagement of the pawl with the ratchet-teeth, and in Fig. 4 it will be noticed that the guard-plates are so adjusted that the pawl, which is revolving constantly with the gear 25, will engage the ratchet-wheel only for a short distance while it is passing between the high parts of the guard-plates, or, in other words, between the points a; and y of said Fig. 4. Thus the feed-roller 6 will turn only during this short engagement with the pawl and ratchet, and the amount of this engagement will determine the amount that the strip is fed forward to the knife, and consequently the size of the loop-blank, it being understood that the pawl, when coming opposite the lower part, rides down into e11- gagement with the ratchet-teeth, and when it reaches the high part of the other guardplate it is lifted by the incline 36 thereof out of engagement with the ratchet and then continues its movement around the plain periphery of the guard-plate.

The guard-plates are adjustable by means of a clamping-screw 38, passing through segmental slots 39 in the guard-plates, said screw being held by a standard 40 at the end of the shaft extension, and by adjusting these guard-plates the high parts may be moved toward or from each other to vary the period of the engagement between the ratchet and the pawl. The guard-plates may have high parts on opposite sides, so that by adjusting them two engagements of the pawl with the ratchet may take place for every revolution By this arrangement the reof the gear 25.

ciprocation of the knife is uniform, while the feed is variable, both movements being socured from the same shaft 8. The guidingpiece 41 is arranged adjacent to the knife, and the material passes under this asit leaves the rollers and moves toward the knife.

I claim as my invention 1. I11 combination, the cutting-knife, the feeding mechanism comprising the upper and lower rollers 5 and 6 and variable driving means therefor, comprising the continuouslymoving pawl-carrier, carrying the pawl continuously in one direction around the axis of the feed-roller, the ratchet and the pair of adjustable guard plates forming a track around which the pawl runs, said plates controlling the engagement between the pawl and ratchet, substantially as described.

-2. In combination, the horizontal table, a vertically-reciprocating knife, means for driving the same and the feed-rollers, arranged one above and one below the table and to one side of the knife, said knife being adjustable along the table laterally, toward and from the feed-rollers, substantially as described.

In combination, the reciprocating knife, a cross-head carrying the same, the standard in which the cross-head moves, means for operating the knife connected with the crosshead, and comprising the rock-shaft, the arm extending therefrom and adjustably engaging the cross-head the feed -rollers, said standards with the cross-head and knife being adj ustable toward and from the feed-rollers, substantially as described.

at. In combination, a table, the shaft 8, the reciprocating cutting-knife connections be tween said shaft and knife for operating the same, the feed-rollers and connections be tween the said feed-rollers and shaft 8, comprising the gear and pinion on the roll-shaft and shaft 8 respectively, the said gear being loose on the roll-shaft and rotating continuously in one direction, the pawl carried by the gear, the ratchet on the roll-shaft and a pair of guard-plates, arranged alongside each other and having cut-away portions, said plates being adjustable and adapted to control the engagement of the pawl with the ratchet, substantially as described.

5. In combination, the frame, the vertically-reciprocating knife, the rock-shaft, and arm connected with the knife, the shaft 8, the eccentric thereon, the pitman and arm connecting the rock-shaft with the eccentric, the feed-rollers, the gear loose on the feed-roll shaft and engaging a pinion on the shaft 8, and the variable driving mechanism including the pawl and the ratchet with the adjustable guard-plates, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALONZO L. SWEET. Witnesses:

F. E. STULL, W. R. ANGELL. 

